Autumn surprises

Autumn really is my favourite season and I think the boys feel the same. They love it when the fallen leaves stick to the windscreen on the van, then squel with delight when they flutter off as we are driving along! Their other favourite game lately has been catching the falling leaves and/or throwing them up and catching them.

It keeps them entertained all afternoon.
But alas, look what we started to see on our trip to Kelowna this weekend.....snow minged in with the glorius Autumn colours.

And then yesterday it happened.....we got our first snow fall. Sam came running in to the kitchen, face beaming and said "Mum, it is real snowing now. I am so happy!!!" and turned and ran back to the window. So I guess winter is Sam's favourite season now.

The kids were eager to have their 1st play and 1st snow ball fight for the season. I had my 1st fall down the icy stairs this morning so my 1st hasn't been a good one. I am however looking forward to all our winter activites, and going skiing as a whole family.

I think for now I am going to take my weary tush and sit in my comfy knitting chair and finish a scarf I started almost 7 years ago with my beautiful grandmother. There is only a few rows to go and it will be lovely to give it to Harry. I started it before he was born and he will get it just before his 6th birthday. I sure hope my other projects won't take that long!!!!

Happy snowy days.

My latest sewing project

I was very excited to make this birthday banner for my niece for her 2nd birthday. The pattern is from Amanda Blake Soule's book "The Creative Family". I loved making them and I am looking forward to making some for the boys now too. They are a great project to learn to sew on and there is things that I will do differently next time of course, but that is all part of the learning experience!

I made a little bag too for her to keep her banner in. I made it a triangle shape to remind them of what is inside. I had a lot of fun making it especially as I got some help from Kevin's grandma. It is so nice to spend time with her and even nicer when we have a project to work on.

Happy 2nd Birthday Arwynn...

Tradition and a strong family bond

I would like to introduce to you Grumpy Guy.....

While he may be a strange looking fellow he is a very much loved part of our family. He originally belonged to my husbands grandfather. When he sadly passed in early 1999 Kevin and his cousin Jodi both expressed interest in becoming Grumpy Guy's new owners. Kevin decided that as he would be travelling overseas for a few years that he would send Grumpy Guy to Jodi with a note, offering to share him. They would each have the pleasure of his company for a couple of years and then send him back. This has been going on ever since and we just received Grumpy Guy back in our home. He still contains the original note Kevin sent Jodi, a photo of the two family's from 1988 and a new note that Jodi composed updating Grumpy Guy on the past 10 years.

I love that they started this tradition, that their family love is strong and unlike most family's, instead of feuding over a piece of memorabilia, came up with a new, fun family tradition. The best part is that the kids were interested in the story and it sparked some lovely conversations between us all. I think it is a great way to bond and I would love to hear what traditions you have in your families. So I will leave you with this beautiful image of my niece Arwynn doing her Grumpy Guy impression.....priceless!

Welcome to the 'cottage' and.....

Firstly, thank you so much to everyone who sent emails or left comments during my absence. It was so lovely to read your well wishes in such a trying time. We are through the worst of it now and I feel content with how things have worked out. They are still not how we had hoped but at least we have a roof over our heads and are all together, warm for the winter.

Here is where our plans went a little sideways. We are unable to get into our new home just for the moment so we have had to rent a house, no lets call it a cottage so it feels more like a holiday! It is a gorgeous, old 'cottage' on the hill just outside our little town.

At present (before the snow flies) we are parking on level ground to the house, just near the garden shed. However when it snows, we will be parking down here.......

Yup, down the bottom of this flight of stairs. I can just see me now with bags of groceries, crying kids and snow covered stairs!!!! Are you laughing yet?

Lets cheer things up a little and go inside.....first stop, the living room.

A small but cosy space. I can see myself snuggled on my chair knitting the winter away.

My new 'nook' in the kitchen where I can work and oversee the kids at the same time.

Upstairs there is 3 bedrooms, a bathroom and laundry. The boys keep asking why did they build that bathroom upstairs but it does comes in handy in the middle of the night. We have had to store most of our belongings and just kept the bare essentials here. It will certainly be an adventure this winter and boy will the kids have a blast toboganning down these hills!

I also wanted to share some very wonderful news indeed. My niece was born on October the 9th, beautiful Iris Tierra. Well done Melanie and Ron. I know you will cherish this precious little bundle.